Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Confused’ ship pilot in £1m prang
A SHIP’S pilot accidentally steered the vessel into the path of a ferry, causing a £1million crash.
Gehan Sirimanne, 63, was “disorientated” by an off-centre window.
Its angle made him think he was travelling in the direction he was looking when he was heading for the Primula Seaways ship.
Capt Ruslan Urumov, 64, thought the pilot intended to pass the ferry and didn’t query his actions in time, Hull crown court heard.
No one was hurt in the collision in the Humber off Spurn Point, East Yorks, but the ferry was left with a 40ft gash in its side.
Sirimanne, from Hull, and Bulgarian Urumov admitted misconduct by a pilot endangering a ship and got four months’ jail, suspended for 18 months.